Ranger's Apprentice Single Chapter Stories
by Mayhap hem
Summary: What are these usually called? Onegoes? I don't know but oh well hee hee. I post them separate stories all in each one chapter by themselves so you see what I see between chapters is fun/sad/fluffy all at the same time!


So my first story posted now I do a second one for swift, hope you like drabble is what they called sometimes hee hee...Is short story several of them where I do how you say...ehhh...fluffy stuff to make you go "Awww" because the people are so cute and things, maybe then I hope. Is also other things as too, but now will do the first set in the Gorlan Ruins like book one. I feel bad for Will when rode both horses and one too big for him so long to get help, must have hurt poor thing and such so I write this for feels bad for him, yes? How can not mention that after all? Says that Halt is was hurt and Arald was got hurt, but says nothing about Will got hurt when he was! Bad and thing so I fix it now!

Oh, I warns you or you gets mad at! This story chapter has some punishment in, seen others warn of this so I do too for safe make sure you know don't get mad about it, also have some injuries and blood, described not much but enough to know, so now you know of this in here won't be my fault get mad because for you read it without knowing get upset don't want that happens...bad...but hope you like if not offended!

* * *

1: Fire

The ride back to Redmont was delayed for quite some time, what with both Baron Arald and Halt having injuries that needed tending to. They set up a small camp a good distance away from the Gorlan Ruins, mostly to be well clear of the two dead Kalkara. Now Sir Rodney sat uneasily on his bedroll, watching the youngest of the group with some concern. He could see that Will was squirming uncomfortably, his head low and his eyes half-lidded as if in total exhaustion. But then, Rodney supposed that the boy had earned the right to be utterly spent; Will had had a rough two or three days, Rodney supposed.

Halt wasn't much better, but his problems lay in the fact that he was utterly determined to take at least one watch, regardless of the fact that he'd only just awoken after having his leg nearly torn off by a kalkara, something that would have anyone else quite happy to allow someone else to take the watch. At the moment he was protesting bitterly against his former apprentice, Gilan, giving him some coffee that he knew for a fact was laced with sleeping medicine.

"For the last time, Gilan, I'm fine! It's just a scratch, you idiot!"

Gilan raised an eyebrow in a very Halt-like way. "Just a scratch, eh?"

Will, sitting a few feet away near Tug, suddenly placed his head in his hands and groaned in annoyance.

Halt shot him a look and glared at Gilan, who was still trying to make him drink the coffee. "Unless you'd like to find yourself with a broken nose you'll get rid of that and bring me some coffee you haven't been foolish enough to fill with drugs." he threatened angrily.

Gilan rolled his eyes. "You need to rest-"

Will glowered at the two of them. "You _both _need to rest." he all but snarled at them, standing up and moving away far enough away to be out of earshot. Gilan couldn't help but notice that when Will sat down again he did so very slowly, like someone who was far older than fifteen. He turned to Halt, a question in his eyes.

"What's wrong with Will?"

Halt shrugged. "I suppose he's just tired; he did have a really long ride, and that fight took a lot out of him, you know."

Gilan nodded thoughtfully, watching Will as the boy lay down, wrapped in his ranger cloak so that he was nearly invisible. "Well, for a moment he sounded kind of like you actually." he smirked cheerfully at his own wit.

Halt cuffed him gently over the head. "Oh be quiet, you sot."

There were a few moments of silence before...

"You still haven't brought me any normal coffee."

* * *

Will was fairly certain that he'd never hurt quite so badly in the whole of his existence. Every inch of him hurt, the muscles in his back aching so fiercely that he wanted to scream, his arms feeling like they'd been ripped from their sockets, both of his legs burning and aching enough to make his eyes water; something that he was trying with all of his might to hide from the others. He lay on his bedroll, trying to keep his face hidden using the cowl of his ranger cloak, and watched the others as they took their watches. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, so he figured that he had nothing better to do than just lay here and hope no one noticed him. It wasn't that he didn't want to keep watch; it was just that he was hurting badly enough that he thought he might pass out if he tried to sit up for that long.

He'd dozed off slightly, not quite in the realm of dreams but still blissfully beyond the point of feeling pain, and he would have liked to stay that way, but soon found himself being shaken awake by Gilan. Normally he would have accepted the fact that he needed to wake up and that it was his turn to keep watch, but now he didn't want to be bothered with moving at all, nor with being in any position besides that of laying down, and to him it felt like the gentle shake delivered by the older ranger was really a solid blow to his arm by a hammer or some other device that was being used to torture him. He writhed out of the ranger's grip, backing away as best he could and looking up at Gilan in alarm.

Gilan grinned down at him, oblivious to Will's dilemma. "Your turn. Halt thinks he's after you, but just let him sleep." he pointed to a spot in the sky, not taking notice of the fact that Will was looking at him with something close to total contempt, "When the moon reaches that point you'll need to wake Sir Rodney, understand?"

Will paled, the concept of four whole hours of watch seeming like a nightmare to him. He winced at the thought and, before he could make an attempt to calm down and convince himself that it wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be, shook his head rapidly.

Gilan frowned. "You don't understand?"

Will opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again and shook his head once more.

Gilan pointed to the sky again, this time making sure that Will could see where he was pointing. "When the moon is right there you need to wake up Sir Rodney so he can take over."

Will winced and shot Gilan a terrified look. "N-no sir..." being fully awake was making him totally aware of the horrible pain all over, and he was almost certain that sitting through four hours of watch would only serve to make it worse.

Gil was confused then, and he stared at Will in bewilderment. "No sir what?" he asked, wondering what Will could possibly mean.

Will sighed and looked away. "Too...too tired..." he muttered quietly.

The apprentice ranger felt a twinge of fear as Gilan's brow furrowed, possibly in anger. "You've managed before, Will."

Will whimpered and shook his head yet again. "I can't..." he said, a pleading tone coming into his voice.

Gilan was close to stunned; he'd never, in the entire short time he'd known Will, seen the boy act like this. He supposed that the lad had every right to be tired, but this was ridiculous. As far as Gilan was aware there wasn't anything that should make Will any more tired than the rest of them. "You can handle four hours, Will. It's not that long, after all. You've been doing well for this long, another few hours won't kill you."

Will, finally sitting up, backed away a little, still hoping against hope to avoid the daunting task ahead of him. "I really don't want to-" he began, but unfortunately he'd reached the end of Gilan's patience, and Gilan knew exactly how to win this particular war.

He grabbed Will's wrist and hauled the boy to his feet, glaring at him crossly. "Why don't we ask Halt what he thinks about it then?" he suggested almost casually. He could actually see the blood drain from Will's face at the mention of Halt; the grizzled old ranger was already grouchier than usual due to his injury and the fact that the others were actually acknowledging the fact that he was hurt, and that meant that his wrath would be much worse than his usual threats if Gilan let him know that there was a reason to unleash it upon Will.

Needless to say, Will surrendered right away, having no wish to face whatever Halt would do to him, were he to become aware of what was going on. "No!" Will squeaked fearfully, hurrying to the place Gilan had previously occupied and casting a frightened glance back at the ranger to make sure Gilan wasn't saying anything to Halt.

He sighed heavily as he sat down, whimpering in pain as the movement made his already sore muscles send fiery agony lancing through his entire body. His vision swam for a few seconds and he wondered if he'd even know if anything tried to attack. He shifted slightly, trying to alleviate some of the pain and only serving to make it worse. After several moments of squirming and shifting he gave up and stood, hoping that that might feel a little better. Quite the opposite, in some places, others it actually worked. He cringed, noticing that Gilan was watching him, and sat down again, barely biting back a harsh yelp as he did so.

He looked around, trying to find something to focus on to distract himself from the pain that seemed to be attacking every inch of him, but knowing at the same time that he couldn't focus on anything for terribly long. He found himself somewhat dazed after the first two hours, finding that the lack of anyone else being awake was making this all the worse somehow, that and the fact that his pain was getting worse with every minute made it hard for him to stay awake, much less actually keep watch.

It wasn't long after the second hour that he found himself slipping from reality, unsure of what was real and what wasn't. The only thing he was really sure of was that he was hurting. Badly. He was suddenly aware that his chin was against his chest, his eyes barely open, and he jolted back fully awake for another few seconds before nodding off again. But the combination of soreness and exhaustion soon proved to be too much and he fell into a deep sleep, unaware of any pain yet at the same time haunted with dreams of kalkara and fire.

His painless terror didn't last long, however, before he was being roughly shaken awake by none other than Halt himself, who wasn't in the mood to have his apprentice sleeping on watch. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily.

Will yelped and stared at him in fear, wondering how long he'd been asleep. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Halt rolled his eyes and shook the boy again, nearly making him scream in pain. "If you didn't mean to you wouldn't have in the first place. You've been training for too long to make stupid mistakes like that; what would you have done if a wargal or three had shown up while you were sleeping, eh?"

Will trembled from head to foot, completely terrified. "I'm sorry..." he whispered.

Halt scowled and let go of him, still furious. "Go get the switch out of my saddle-bag." he growled.

Will felt horribly sick as Halt's words sank in. "Halt, no!" he begged, terror evident in his voice.

Halt continued to glare at him. "Don't 'Halt, no' me, boy. You know better than to let yourself fall asleep on watch and it's not my fault if you need a less than kind reminder of the fact."

Will whimpered and cast Halt a pleading look, already knowing that it wouldn't do him any good.

Halt gave him a hard push in the general direction of the saddle-bag. "Get going," he ordered, "And don't wake anyone."

Will could hardly see as he reached the bag and found the switch inside it, tears already blurring his vision and a horrible feeling of fear gnawing away at him. He made his way shakily back to Halt and handed his mentor the switch, trying hard not to sob at the look Halt was giving him.

Halt nodded and sent Will another angry look. "We don't have all night."

Will just stood there, unsure of what to do and silently praying that there was some way out of this; he was already terribly sore and the last thing he needed was the severe switching that Halt was promising to give him. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously, wondering if what he was about to say would make things worse. "C-can you w-wait until we're back h-h-home?" he pleaded quietly.

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Will shuddered and looked around. "G-Gilan and S-sir Rodney and..."

Halt interrupted him, still as angry as ever. "Won't care one lick that I'm dealing with my apprentice as I see fit, now lean over before I have to make you."

Cringing and utterly terrified, Will obeyed, certain that Halt could feel and maybe even hear his heart pounding away in his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the building fear of what was about to happen. Halt didn't keep him waiting for very long, however. He yelped at the sudden sharp blow to the back of his right leg, just above his knee, and gripped Halt's leg a bit more tightly, not noticing that Halt cringed a bit at the contact before delivering a second blow, a bit higher this time.

Will knew already that Halt probably wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and that thought made him whimper and sob in fear, trying hard not to make much noise but failing miserably. The third blow made him come close to shrieking in pain, whereas the fourth had him trying to pull away from his mentor even though common sense told him that that would only make his situation worse. Or maybe it wouldn't.

As Will lurched forward in an attempt to escape the lashing, Halt noticed something that he hadn't noticed before. He pressed hard on the small of Will's back, making the boy fall still but for the occasional twitch, and tilted his head slightly. "Will," he asked, a trace of anger still in his voice, "What's this?" In the faint light provided by the moon and stars Halt could see a dark red stain in some places on the back of Will's leggings, mostly on either thigh, but also in some places up and down each calf.

Now he could feel Will trembling and wondered what could have possibly happened. "Well?"

Will tried once more to pull away, but his efforts were only rewarded with a sharp, stinging blow from the switch in Halt's hand, making him gasp and fall still again. "Wh-what's what?" Will choked, his voice barely audible.

Halt pushed him forward a little, looking more carefully. "Good lord, Will, did one of those kalkara scratch you? There's blood."

Will shook his head rapidly, not wanting Halt to know that the long hours of riding Tug and Blaze had done more damage than he'd let on. "N-no sir!" he replied, his voice much higher than it should have been, "I-I'm fine...that's not blood..."

Halt became even more concerned at that; why was his apprentice trying to hide the fact that he was hurt unless it was something more serious than a scratch from a kalkara? Halt knew that he'd have to find out what it was, and he knew exactly how to do it as well. "Will, I know what blood looks like, and that's blood. I won't exactly kill you if one of them scratched you, you know." he didn't get an answer, so he went on. "You should've told me; you can't leave something like that without medi-" he trailed off, noticing something wrong with his thought that Will had been scratched by a kalkara; there wasn't a single tear in the fabric to be seen, not even in the places where Halt could see blood, meaning that the injuries hadn't been inflicted by claws of any sort.

Will sniffled quietly, hurting even more from the five lashes he'd taken. "I-it wasn't a kalkara..." he muttered.

Halt gently pulled Will upright again, looking at him carefully. "Then what happened?" he asked.

Will whimpered and shook his head, not wanting to tell Halt what had really happened for fear that it would annoy or upset the older ranger. "N-nothing..."

Halt raised an eyebrow. "Nothing doesn't draw blood, Will." he replied.

Will backed away a little, unsure of whether or not Halt was going to start switching him again, and looked away. "T-tug and Blaze..." he half-whispered.

Halt frowned. "What about them?"

Will sighed, defeated and totally spent. "Went back to Redmont w-without stopping except f-for a few m-minutes at a time and...B-Blaze is too b-big...t-then had to come back..."

Halt wanted to slap himself as the realization dawned on him; of course, Will was technically much too small to ride a fairly large horse like Blaze at all, much less ride such a horse at such a swift pace. And when Halt really thought about it he supposed that riding any horse for so long was bound to do some damage or other. He tried to push back the pang of guilt that arose when he thought of the fact that he'd been the one to send Will to do such a task in the first place. "How bad is it?"

Will shrugged, not really knowing himself how bad the damage was. "Don't know...just hurts really bad..."

Halt winced, wondering why Will hadn't just told Sir Rodney right away that he was so badly injured. "Well," he said, hoping that Will wouldn't get too upset at what he was about to say, "The injuries can't go unattended; they'll have to be cleaned and bandaged or infection might set in and I'm sure you don't want that at all."

Will looked up at him, horrified. "What? No, I'm fine!" he stammered.

Halt shook his head. "No you're not. Go get my medical kit so I can get this over with."

Will sighed and stood up again, wincing and gasping slightly in pain before half-staggering over to where Halt kept his medical kit, retrieving it and returning to Halt's side to slowly return to his position on the ground, looking at Halt fearfully the whole while. He watched his mentor fish around in the bag for several moments, finally withdrawing a small jar that was only about two inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. Catching Will's curious look Halt shrugged.

"It's aloe," he said, "Should help a bit until we can get you to a proper healer."

Now that all traces of anger were gone from Halt's voice Will could hear the concern there, but that didn't make him any less wary when Halt told him to lie down, giving the older ranger better access to the various injuries up and down both of Will's legs.

Halt sighed heavily and frowned at him. "What is it now?"

Will shied away a little, fearing the medicine almost more than he'd feared the switching that Halt had tried to give him. "It...it'll burn, won't it?" he asked softly.

Halt thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly. "Only a little, and it'll stop after a few minutes and you'll feel much better, really."

Will started to look even more nervous. "It already burns..." he said so quietly that Halt had to strain to hear him, "Like fire...that'll make it worse..." he cast Halt a desperate, pleading look, "Please," he whimpered, "I...don't think I can-"

Halt sighed and gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, trying to reassure him. "That's why you fell asleep, isn't it? You weren't so much sleeping as passing out."

Will nodded miserably.

Halt wasn't sure what he should do then, knowing that Will was still upset over being thrashed, even though he'd only been hit five times, and knowing that Will was terribly sore and frightened, it was a nightmare for the old ranger. "If it hurts too much then I'll stop, alright?"

Will still looked awfully afraid, but he reluctantly agreed and very slowly lay down, allowing Halt to check the injuries and apply the aloe. He went stiff as he felt Halt rubbing the medicine into his left calf, making the horrific burning increase so much that it took all of his determination not to howl in pain. Halt, realizing that he was hurting the boy, rubbed a little more gently until he was finished.

"Good lord, Will," he said teasingly in hopes that it would calm the lad's nerves, "It looks like Blaze and Tug were riding you, not the other way around." Not receiving a reply he continued in silence. Each calf had only been rubbed raw along the inside, sometimes the injuries continued to the back of the leg but not very often. However, higher up it was worse than Halt had expected; in most places the skin had been completely worn away, leaving some areas not only raw but bleeding as well. There was also bad bruising just about everywhere. Halt wondered how Will had managed such a long ride without passing out the second he'd reached Redmont.

"Almost done..." he muttered, giving Will a firm pat on the back with one hand. Will flinched at the contact and Halt frowned once again, leaning forward and carefully lifting up the back of his apprentice's shirt. He didn't see any bruising, but it was obvious that the lad was extremely sore. He glanced at the medical kit again, then back at Will. "I don't think aloe will help that..." he muttered.

Will, who had tensed right away at the burning sensation brought about by the aloe, relaxed slightly as the burning was replaced with a soothing coolness, alleviating some of his pain. "Already a little better..." he replied, weariness in his voice.

Halt nodded and stood up, motioning for Will to stay where he was. "I'll be right back; clearly someone else is going to need to be on watch. But that's just as well; it's almost time for your watch to be over anyway."

He made his way slowly to where Sir Rodney lay, shaking the man gently to rouse him. Rodney blinked several times, automatically looking to the sky before casting Halt a bewildered glance, a question clear in his eyes.

Halt shook his head, motioning for Rodney to be silent. "Will's hurt." he said simply, going back to Will before the knight could reply. He was starting to feel an unpleasant ache in his leg where the kalkara had clawed him, but he shook off the feeling and turned his attention back to his apprentice, not giving himself time to dwell on it.

Will seemed to be feeling at least a little better, but Halt knew he couldn't be very comfortable, laying on the hard ground like he was. But then, the boy did seem too exhausted to be much bothered with moving somewhere else, so Halt collected his bedroll from where it had been left and returned once more, laying it down next to Will and trying to coax the lad into moving onto it.

"You'll be a lot worse off in the morning if you don't." he urged, giving the boy a small push in hopes of getting Will onto the slightly softer surface provided by the bedroll.

Will groaned slightly and shakily crawled onto the bedroll before collapsing again; the night had taken a lot out of him and he had hardly any strength left over after the exhausting events of the past few days.

Halt watched him for a moment, eventually coming to a decision and moving a bit closer before beginning to gently rub Will's shoulders and back, hoping that the rubbing would do some good for the tension of the muscles.

Will glanced at him curiously, not quite understanding what Halt was doing. "H-halt?"

Halt looked down at him, letting him know without actually saying anything that he was allowed to speak.

"Why?"

Now there was a question Halt hadn't expected. "Why what?" he replied grouchily, "I can't have you stiff and out of sorts in the morning, can I? And you'd best not get used to this; the second you recover we'll be swapping places." he huffed in mock annoyance, noticing with some pleasure that Will flashed a small smile at the remark.

"That's good..." the boy muttered, "How long...?"

Halt frowned. "Until you get better? I don't know, it depends on how bad it really is; when we get back to Redmont a healer can take care of it and you'll be feeling as good as new in a week at the most."

Will looked aghast. "A whole week?" he sounded like he was about to cry, so Halt quickly rectified the situation.

"But even if it does take that long the healer will give you medicine of some sort so you'll hardly be able to tell you're hurt for that entire time."

Will relaxed a little, allowing his eyes to close. "'S good..." he murmured drowsily, "Don't want to stay like this forever..."

Halt allowed himself a small grin, but didn't let Will see it. "You wouldn't be able to even if you did want to. But then again, you might; you've got harder training coming the second you're able."

Will didn't react, only made a very small sound in response.

Halt waited a few minutes, realizing that Will had fallen asleep, and then returned to his own bedroll with a light groan; his leg was starting to hurt him worse now that he'd been walking around and kneeling for so long. He was about to lie down but then he glanced back at Will again and shrugged to himself; it couldn't hurt, could it? He picked up his bedroll and wandered slowly back to Will, placing the bedroll on the ground and then lowering himself onto it; he wanted to keep an eye on his apprentice in case the boy should start hurting again, in which case he would demand some of that sleeping draft Gilan had tried to give him and make Will drink some of it if he had to force-feed the poor youngster.

It wasn't long before he felt himself nodding off, exhausted as much as Will was from the recent events. However, he wasn't completely asleep when he felt something touching him. Looking down he realized that Will, who had neglected to bother wrapping himself in his ranger cloak before lying down, had gotten closer to him, possibly because he was getting cold due to the lack of cloak or blanket. Halt rolled his eyes and let the boy stay where he was; in the morning he, Halt, would pretend to be angry or annoyed at the lad's presence but for now it wouldn't do any harm to let him remain where he was, even if that mean having to suffer the indignity of being snuggled up to like a stuffed bear.

He was almost asleep when he heard something he hadn't expected; the muffled voice of his apprentice, who just happened to have his face buried in Halt's shoulder.

"Thank you."

* * *

Aw! Is too fluffied or not much enough for to do? Was too graphic/violent or something for some? Oh dear, now I worry but had to write it anyway hope not is mad now...Did not like happy for to hurt Will like did, but was still happy of the end Halt nice so liked a lot. But still, was good or not? I wrote another soon for post second chapter in this; single chapter stories are fun to write hee hee, so I adds another very swift. You see already probably Ruins of Gorlan is my best the Ranger's Apprentice book to write about in this. But soon will post for book nine as well so not gets bored with it. Good see you for now to post again!

-May


End file.
